The Commonwealth Life
by Bren Tenkage
Summary: Follow Nora through my interpretation of Fallout 4. Based on my personal universe of the Wasteland Life and the New Vegas Life. Rating subject to change possibly.
1. War, War Never Changes

AN: So many years since my last fanfiction involving Fallout, I suppose I should change this, don't know if I will finish this, but I suppose I should try. Need to do something to kill time LOL. If ya have any ideas for characters ya want to submit to maybe be apart of the adventure let me know. There will also be a few slight changes to the story, nothing too major just some tweaks.

Footsteps echoed through some halls, a mysterious man in a trenchcoat and fedora walked through the halls of a vault, he seemed to be looking for something, or rather someone in this case.

He passed by some radroaches, normally hostile to everything not a giant mutated cockroach but they seemed to be repelled by his presences.

He soon passed through some more doors and found what he was looking for, pods, many rows of pods with people inside, or rather corpses. He looked at each pod stopping at the last one, he could see inside a woman in a vault jumpsuit. He nodded his head and looked across from the pod, inside a man with a bullet wound on his forehead, his final look that of desperation.

He turned his attention back to the woman inside, her short black hair, her well defined figure in the skin tight jumpsuit, clearly this was a woman who would have many admirers in prewar times. Yes this woman was from the prewar, and now she was about to wake up into a new nightmare.

"Well, it's time for you to change the wasteland." The mysterious man spoke, his tone smooth, and yet had a hint of a Boston accent. He went to a nearby terminal and clicking a few switches and buttons he set the cryo pod to automatically thaw out all vault dwellers in an hour and to release the woman automatically at that time.

He lit up a cigarette and put it in his mouth, tipping his hat to the woman in the pod.

"Lets hope her changes are for the better." he said before leaving.

When the woman awoke she panicked, she pounded on the door crying out, 'Nate! NATE! Please be alright!" when the pod finally released her she fell to the ground groaning a bit, her body still weakened by the cryogenic freezing process, she crawled to the pod across from her and struggled to pull herself up, finally making it to the control panel, she quickly looked over the control panel and found the switch marked "Open" and she pressed it, the pod opened up and the body falling to the ground.

She picked it up and began to sob, "Nate, I'm sorry I couldn't help you…"

She closed her eyes and began to remember the events leading up to this point.

It was a warm October morning, the 23rd to be precise. The woman was finishing up some work on a Mr. Handy robot, she let out a sigh of satifaction as she closed the back chassis cover.

"Alright Codsworth how do you feel?" She asked as the robot hovered back up into the air.

"Nora you've done it again, I feel like I just came off the factory floor. Don't know how that bottle cap got into there." The robot named Codsworth said in his British tone. Everyone loved that British accent that General Atomics program them with, although Nate and Nora have seen some models with a Boston accent.

"Always did know your way around a robot." Nate said chuckling as he sat on the couch watching tv. He was in a comfortable pair of jeans and a white shirt, nothing too special but he liked to have some less confining clothing.

"Well I didn't get that degree in robotics for show." Nora said chuckling a bit, she looked at her blue dress, there were now some grease and oil stains ruining it.

"Although maybe I should have put on some overalls before fixing him up,' She said frowning a bit.

"Hey I think it adds character, shows you aren't afraid to get your hands dirty." Nate said as Codsworth flew off to the back bedrooms.

"Gotta say sure glad ya convinced me to get him. Good find too, heard the A32 models glitch out when they cut cakes, causes them ruin them." Nate said.

"Only cakes with coconut in it, strange glitch though. "She said getting up and cracking her back as Nate got up and embraced her, chuckling a bit before kissing her on the lips. Nora not even fighting back.

However their little romantic moment was interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

Nate and Nora both sighed, annoyed by this.

'I'll get it, you go check up on Shaun. "Nora said walking over to the door to see a man in a yellowish brown jacket and hat, she could see a pin on the jacket with the Vault Boy logo, that little man giving the thumbs up.

"Good morning, miss, umm Nora Wilson" the man said checking his clipboard and some papers.

"Yes, you must be the Vault Tec representative, "Nora said and the man gave a chuckle, "That would be correct, I'm just here to finalize a few more forms, and to confirm your place in Vault 111,"

Nora nodded her head, "Yes of course please come in, Codsworth bring our guest some coffee," She called out and the robot butler came to the front room and said, "Ah hello sir, how do you like your coffee, "he asked.

"Um 2 lumps of sugar please, "The Rep said, Nora was the first person he met today who wasn't annoyed by his presence, would make the morning go so much smoother.

"Just need you to sign here and here, "he said passing her the form and a Vault Tec Branded pen (not free of course) and showing her the lines to sign.

"Alright, got it, anything else?" She asked as she was passed another form.

"Just another form here and here, and we should be good. "The rep said.

'Thanks um.." Nora didn't know his name and there was a slight awkward pause before he said, 'Oh um Paul," He said as Nora finished the signing, Paul now being passed a cup of fresh coffee by Codsworth, "Here you go sir, careful still hot,' he said.

"Thank you,' Paul said sipping the coffee.

"So glad to finally have our place confirmed, Nate has some military contacts telling him the big one is coming, the big one is coming, I don't really think we will go that far, but Nate wouldn't stop begging to have a place in the vault just in case, " Nora said sipping her own passed cup.

"Well if you ask me, better to have it and not need it then to need it not and have it, I'm about to get my own spot tomorrow, I finally earned enough money to reserve my spot," Paul said chuckling, Nate came out carrying a bundle in his arms, "And we have the little guy awake and ready for some breakfast, heh heh. "Nate said, "So carrots, peas, or squash, what shall Shaun have, personally I'd feed him some bacon, get him a real meal."

"Nate told you before, not until he is at least able to chew some food. "Nora said, "Isn't that right, you need your teeth before yummy bacon" Nora said in a mommy tone to her baby, in which the little child cooed happy to have the attention.

"Ahem,"

"Oh sorry Paul, thank you for stopping by, "Nora said and Paul tipped his hat ready to leave however…

"...Followed by... yes, followed by flashes. Blinding flashes. Sounds of explosions... We're... we're trying to get confirmation…"

It was the TV, "Nora turn it up, " Nate said and Nora went to the TV and turned up the volume.

"...But we seem to have lost contact with our affiliate stations... We do have... coming in... confirmed reports. I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania. My God."

"We have to get to the Vault!" Nate said realizing what was happening.

They could now hear air sirens, this was no drill, this was real.

The three ran out of the house and they could see panic, people running in the streets towards the hill, carrying as many things as they could carry, some people were falling and being trampled.

"Come on!" Nate called out holding Shaun in one arm the other arm holding Nora's hand, Paul right behind them.

Codsworth had stayed behind, his duty was to the home, robots don't needs vaults to survive, besides there were some dirty dishes to clean, don't want Nate and Nora to come back to messy coffee cups.

They made it up the hill to a chain link fence and many soldiers holding people back. Some unable to pass by, the only reason no one tried to push past them were the two troopers in power armor holding miniguns, no one wanted to take their chances against that.

The trio and baby made it to the front of the line, Paul held up the clipboard, "These 3 are registered, I can confirm it!" he shouted, and soldier looked over the paper, "Nate, Nora, and Shaun Wilson, you can pass. Sir please step back and let them pass. " he told Paul.

Paul frowned a bit but gave a light smile when Nora looked back at him.

"It's ok, at least I didn't let you die, " He said. "Come on, "Nate said trying to drag Nora up.

"THANK YOU!" Nora called back, "We won't forget you!"

Paul nodded his head as he watched them run up the hill out of sight, well time to make his final peace.

The three made it up to the top and saw a group of many people in the town on top of a huge gear. A man in a Vault Tec security suit of armor brought them to the center.

"CAN'T WAIT FOR ANY MORE BRING IT DOWN!" he called out and a man in a nearby switch booth hit a button and Nate and Nora realized they were on an elevator, as they went deep down, almost 2 meters that's when they heard it. The Explosion in the distance and looked up to see a new gear door shutting the sky line closed, they just saw the fire pass above them as it shut. 30 seconds later and they wouldn't have made it.

The rest of the memories were a blur, get changed into vault jump suits and brought to "Decontamination pod" Nora didn't buy it but had no choice but to be put into one. At least she was across from Nate and Shaun's pod.

The next memories seemed almost like a dream, she could barely move and could see a mysterious man open the pod ahead of her...then shoot her husband right in front of her when he refused to give them Shaun. They took Shaun, took him away from them. Why didn't they kill her, they were right there, the man even looked at her before telling another man in a labcoat to 'freeze the bitch."

She stopped reminiscing of the events, and then went to Nate's right hand, and took the wedding ring off of his finger. She teared up and picked up the body and forced it back into the pod and then shut it.

"I'll...find a way to bury you properly, but this will have to do for a coffin, "She said wiping her tears away. She looked around, and checked the other pods status, all of them were failures, everyone was dead, all save her.

"What happened, why is everyone dead?" she asked herself and went past some still working doors, only to see the giant radroach that hissed at her, she fell on her ass out of surprise and it began to scurry towards here.

"BACK OFF!" she cried out crawling back hitting a wall and as it got closer and closer her hand touched a monkey wrench, there was a nearby tool box, she gripped it and swung down on the insect foe, crushing it in an explosion of irradiated guts.

"What, kind of cockroach was that? I think an exterminator would need hazard pay for that one, 'She said panting a bit, still gripping the wrench, she pulled herself together and got back up, she needed to get out of here, find the overseer or something.

Good news, she realized how easy it was to deal with more radroaches, crushing them with a wrench is a really good tactic, guess no matter how big the bug, crushing them always seems to work. Bad news, no sign of anyone, the terminals were either broken, or glitched out so there was no way to figure out what happened. All the doors were open, but all the lockers were looted, only thing not taken was a few spare vault suits, and a strange weapon in a locked case, the case said, "Experimental Cryolator."

"Would love to look over that, "She muttered looked around the shelves and she smiled, she found an old 10 mm pistol, full clip on it too.

"So glad Nate showed me how to use a pistol, 'She said putting the clip back in.

She sighed a bit and kept moving forward, hoping to find any sign of life other then insects, any one, or anything. No such luck.

She made it to the entrance, but found the way forward blocked by the metal gear door, as well as the bridge leading to it not extended.

"Now what," she grumbled however the sound of some bones clattering to the ground altered her, another radroach, this one bigger and this time with green on it.

'Fuck off!" she cried out, very frustrated and fired 2 rounds into it, the roach hissed in pain, and leaped into air and tried to bite it, and she cried out in pain and surprise as it knocked her to the ground and she was forced to use her arm and hand holding the wrench to be the barrier between it and her face.

She could see the jaws snapping at her and she held the gun to it's head and pulled the trigger, fluorescent green goo landing on her face and chest.

Some even went into her mouth and she suppressed the urge to vomit as she rolled over and tried to wipe her face and tongue with her right sleeve.

"Tastes...oh god I think...ok keep it together Nora" she said panting, the feeling to vomit subsiding, she looked at the radroach.

"3 bullets to take it out...what the fuck is going on?" she asked and then her eyes widened, she saw on the nearby fallen skeleton's arm was a device, one she recognize.

"No way. "She went over and pulled off the device, "A pipboy 3000, yes. 'She looked it over and saw the nearby terminal had a plug in slot and the pipboy had the cable, this was her ticket out of here.

Before putting it on however she checked some nearby boxes and smiled finding a new vault jumpsuit, no way was she walking around with bug guts on her, even she had more class then that.

She stripped naked giving a slight shiver as she quickly put the suit back on.

"So let's review, was told they were decontamination pods, but clearly they were cryogenic pods, it's cold enough to confirm that, plus the liquid nitrogen canisters I saw. So why lie about it?" she muttered as she zipped up the suit and clipped on the pipboy.

"And who was that man who took my son, ok Nora one thing at a time, first find people, then find Shaun," She said sighing as she checked the other boxes, she then found something, a Vault Tec branded duffle bag.

'This I can use, "She said grabbing some spare jump suits and putting them into the bag, along with the rings and the wrench.

'Wish I had some food and water through...don't even know if the pipes still work," She muttered going to the control console and plugging in, after some fiddling she got the hang of the controls on the pipboy and activated the door and bridge.

Alarms blared as the gear door rolled open, the bright extending forward to allow her to pass. She smiled seeing the elevator up wasn't damaged or collapsed, she had no idea what she would do if she couldn't leave. She pressed the button inside and went up.

It was a bright morning in the sky, nearly blinding her for a few moments as she made her way up, and the sight to behold...was devastating.

She saw her home Sanctuary Hills devastated, houses destroyed and damaged, the once lush lawns now overgrown and brown, or just dead. The small creek near the community dried up.

She could only fall to her knees in shock and horror…

The world had ended, everything changed.

She began to sob, she needed a moment to let the gravity of the situation hit her. She was alone and she had nothing….


	2. Old and New Friends

AN: It is pretty nice to go back to writing, BTW in case ya didn't know I also do youtubing, same name as my user BrenTenkage. Check me out if ya want.

Nora finally pulled herself together, yes everything she ever loved or cared about was either dead, stolen, or destroyed, but at least she was still alive.

"Alright then, let's think about this, I know, I'll check and see if Nate's secret stash is still there" she muttered to herself making her way down the hill, passing by many skeletons. She hoped none of them were of people she knew.

When she made her way past the old creek bridge and into Sanctuary Hills she frowned a bit seeing all the buildings either completely destroyed or ruined to the point they looked like they would fall at the lightest of breezes, but heard something, a familiar voice, it couldn't be…

"...yes Nora I washed the car again, clean as the day it came off the factory floor."

She ran towards the voice and saw him, Codsworth, he was a lot more worse for wear, rusting in some places, his left "eye' was cracked, she could see the buzz saw attachment was gone. But the worst part, he wasn't talking to her, he was talking to a pile of junk arranged in a vague shape of a human, a bulky old backpack filled with what she presumed were rocks with a bucket for a head sat on a chair, the bucket even had some painted eyes and a mouth in a smile. A mop for hair finished this...Nora.

"So Shaun has been pretty quiet I'll go check on him, and then tonight I'll work on my famous omelets, breakfast for dinner, how quaint" he said with a chuckle passing the real Nora.

"Um Codsworth?' Nora asked.

Codsworth stopped and turned to Nora.

"I TOLD YOU RUFFIANS BEFORE I WON'T LET YOU TAKE THIS HO-" He stopped his middle eye peering forward.

"Wait you aren't one of those men who wanted to take this house, you look familiar…" He said.

"It's me Nora, "Nora said and Codsworth eye focused on her looking up and down.

"Thats impossible, Nora is right over there, admiring the hard work I did on washing the car," He said, said car was more scrap metal then vehicle.

"Codsworth, it really is me, remember when I took the bottle cap out of your inner workings, it was messing with the hovering mechanism," She said.

He backed away surprised, "But, only Nora could know that, she…" he lowered his middle eye and then it widened, the mechanisms helping emote his surprise.

'It..it is you, Nora...but.." his voice quivering.

"Codsworth, what year is it?" She asked, "How long have I been gone?"

"...210 years, exactly, this is the same day, you left." He said sadly.

Nora couldn't believe this, 210 years, she shouldn't be alive, but the Vault had done it, she had survived the bombs falling, she survived whatever purged everyone else, she truly was the sole survivor of the war.

"It, was so lonely without you, I…"

She went up to him and put her hand to his eye stalk and smiled in a comforting way.

'You needed me to help you, you must have been so scared without me to help repair you. You must have made an imaginary me to keep you company didn't you," She said and the eye socket nodded.

'Yes Nora, I just couldn't handle it, I didn't even have the ability to wipe my memory if I wanted too to make the pain go away. But I'm so happy you are here, if I could cry I would. " he said his voice finally brightening up, he finally felt true happiness after so many years.

"But, where is Nate, and Shaun, how did you survive?" he asked finally realized the others were not here.

She frowned a bit and lowered her head, 'They...didn't make it. Nate died, and Shaun...someone took him from me. I don't know if he is still alive," she told him honestly.

"I see, I wish I could help. Well come inside I'm sure you are hungry or thirsty after 210 years, "he said floating in, to her surprise the house was relatively intact, not as much dust as she expected, unlike the other houses that seemed completely destroyed, this one seemed more like a really run down house back during her time, something a really poor person would live in.

"Sorry but all the food went to waste, would go to the Super Duper mart but my programming prevents me from leaving the neighborhood. "He said.

She remembered that, he was programmed to stay within a certain radius, no wonder he never left home, he was bound by his programming.

"It's ok, I'm not that hungry, "She said.

"Very well then, I've tried my best to keep everything neat and tidy in case you came back, I'm happy to see my devotion wasn't in vain, "He said checking the fridge, 'I do have some water I collected with my collector," He offered.

She looked at the bottle of water he was offering, seemed clean enough.

"Thanks," she said taking it and drinking it, it did taste alright, a little warm but she wasn't complaining.

"Hey Codsworth, I have to check on something, give me a moment, "She said walking to the bedroom.

"Alright then Nora, call me if you need me. "He said going back to doing what he normally does.

Over with Nora she went to the bedroom and found the bed in pretty rough shape, a few springs coming out of it, and she could see some mold forming, still not as bad all things considered after 210 years.

She pushed the bed to the side and smiled seeing the old safe lodged in the floor.

"Nate thank you for being careful, 'She said kneeling down and putting in the combination of 09,30,97

She cracked open the safe and smiled, she pulled out the 3,000 dollars in cash, still in good condition putting it into her backpack, she then pulled out a laser pistol, a AER9 from the war, a gift from her late husband thanks to her interest in this sort of tech.

She checked the battery level and smiled, it was still working after all these years. She didn't know if the crystals may have been misaligned but at least she had power.

She set it to the side and grabbed the small fusion cells, she only have a few so use them wisely, she had no idea if she could get more. She also found next to them 2 stimpacks, she didn't know how common medical supplies would be so she really didn't want to waste these.

She then found Nates old combat knife, she pulled it out of its sheath and smiled to see it free of a lot of rust, a little was forming but she could fix it. With the knife and sheath was a belt to carry weapons, sheaths and even little containers to hold small things like ammo or medicine.

Finally she pulled out 1 more item, a comic, Grognak the Barbarian, Issue Number 3: Jungle of the Bat-Babies.

She gave a smile seeing the cover of the titular character Grognak being swarmed by a lot of babies with bat wings. Nate always was a comic fan growing up, who could blame him, there were always good stories to be found. Nora herself always was a fan of the Silver Shroud radio plays and his appearances in the Unstoppables along with the Mistress of Mystery.

Good memories of her childhood playing with the boy Nate of them acting out the Silver Shroud and the mistress of Mystery, sometimes it would be the Silver Shroud and the Man of Mystery if they wanted to play that one episode where it's the alternate world-

"Nora is everything ok, you have been quiet for 5 minutes, do you need help?"

It was Codsworth and he sounded very worried, she could understand, he didn't want her to go after just finding out she was still alive.

"I'm fine Codsworth," She said shutting the safe and putting the bed back in place. She put the items she found into her duffel bag and went out.

"So Codsworth you mentioned ruffians, does that mean other people survived?" She asked.

"Well yes, but you don't want to talk to them, dressed like they fell into a junkyard, and very rude. Always shouting and saying, 'Smash the robot," one of them even ruined my eye. I can barely see in it.

She could see his left eye lens was indeed cracked, so that was how it happened, some jerk smashed it.

"I ran out of a lot of flamer fuel scaring them off, and my buzzsaw was also ruined, but not from them, insects, very large ones. Madam are you aware that the common cockroach has grown at least 30 times their normal size?"

"Yeah I know first hand," She said remembering her escape from Vault 111.

"So back to the others, so there are others, where?" she asked.

"Well I saw them leave towards Concord, mention something about some fools coming towards them and wanted to set up an ambush, I would help but again can't leave."

There was a sound of an explosion out in the distance.

"Umm how long ago was this?"

"About an Hour ago why?" he asked.

She realized that if those men were as dangerous as Codsworth said, and they were planning to attack some other people, she had to help.

"Excuse me Codsworth I need to go to Concord," She said running ahead.

"Wait Nora," he called out, she stopped and turned to him and could see him reaching into his storage chassis pulling out 2 frag grenades.

'One of them had these on them, if you are planning to help out whoever they are planning to hurt I suppose I should help you, just please be careful," he said and Nora smiled taking them and putting them into her pack.

'Alright then, thanks, "She said running south and out of the neighborhood, across the bridge out noticing a charred corpse in the river below, must have been a victim of Codsworth flamer, she ran up the hill towards the Red Rocket gas station noticing something, a dog.

The dog ran over to Nora and gave a loud bark, as if to say, "Notice me."

She stopped a bit and caught her breath and looked down at the dog then crouching down smiling, "Aren't you a bit of a mutt, still you look healthy, where is your owner?" she asked petting him, the dog gave a bit of a whine.

"Oh, are you alone?" She asked.

The Dog gave another whine, it seemed pretty intelligent, or at least enough to understand her.

"Well, I suppose if you want to follow me you could but I'm about to get into a dangerous fight, I would feel bad to see you hurt-

She was interrupted by the dog turning around and growling at something.

"What's wrong boy?" she asked and her question was quickly answered with a large rat creature bursting out of the ground. It looked like a huge freak mole rat, the dog didn't waste time jumping it biting into it's neck, the rat cried out in pain and tried to back back but it's neck couldn't bend enough to bite into the dogs sid.

Nora watched the dog tear back the neck now having a large gaping wound and the rat gave a pitiful cry of pain before succumbing to the wounds.

'Wow, I was worried you could get hurt, but you seem pretty good at fighting boy, 'She said as the dog dropped the chunk of meat in front of her and sat down in front of her panting and looking happy.

She smiled and pet him. "Alright then killer, you wanna help me stop some bad people, I'll bring you along," She said and the dog gave a bark of joy.

She looked down the hill towards the small town of Concord, she had and gulped a bit. On her belt was the sheathed knife, in her hand the laser pistol, at her side the 10mm pistol. Time to play a hero for real, she didn't know why she was doing it, but she felt she had to do the right thing. Who knows maybe the people she will try to save could know some answers to some of her questions…


End file.
